Mystery plane bombs Sudan, Israel blamed

Two people were killed when an unidentified foreign airplane reportedly bombed a car close to the Red Sea city of Port Sudan in Sudan on Tuesday night. Sudanese officials blamed the attack on Israel.

“A plane bombed a small car which was coming from Port Sudan airport to the town,” said a senior local official.

“There were two people in the car and both were killed. The vehicle was completely destroyed," Mohammed Tahir, a member of the state assembly, told AFP.

The mystery attack echoed a similar episode in January 2009 when a convoy of suspected gunrunners was destroyed by an airstrike also in the northeast of the country. Israel was suspected of carrying out the attack but refused to comment on any involvement.

On Wednesday Sudan’s foreign minister told reporters in Khartoum that Israel was responsible. “We have indications that the attack was carried out by Israel. We are absolutely sure of this,” said Ali Ahmad Karti.

The United States believes that weapons destined for Hamas, a designated terrorist group, are flown from Iran to Sudan and then transported by land across Egypt’s southern border to Sinai and on to Gaza.

Diplomatic cables published by the website Wikileaks revealed that secretary of state Hillary Clinton warned Sudan to stop the transhipments in January 2009.

On Wednesday morning the previous night’s bombing in Sudan made the front page of Israeli newspapers which speculated the attack was an assassination.

Also Wednesday, a special envoy from the United States, Princeton Lyman, arrived in Khartoum to speak with President Omar al-Bashir's government.